


Dodge City Cowboys

by Mischel



Series: Supernatural s13 Codas [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Cowboy Hats, Cowboys, Destiel Hug, Episode: s13e06 Tombstone, First Kiss, Fluff, Grumpy Dean Winchester, Love Confessions, M/M, coda fanfic, deancas hug, the talk we know they need to have
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 07:59:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12766581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischel/pseuds/Mischel
Summary: Two extra Destiel hugs, first kiss, the talk we know they need to have, basically everything we needed in the episode. :D (And Dean's the one to put that hat on Cas!)Starts with what happened in the bunker after they decided to go to Dodge City, and continues with what happened after Sam and Jack left the room, leaving grumpy Dean with his coffee and Cas behind.





	Dodge City Cowboys

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it! :)

“Alright, well, two salty hunters, one half-angel kid, and a dude just came back from the dead again, Team Free Will 2.0, here we go!” Dean says and turns away from them, heading happily for the stairs. Dodge City, he’s been dreaming of finding a case there for so long!

 

“Dude,” Sam stops him though. When Dean turns around, not one member of the new Team Free Will except for him moved. “We’ve just come back,” Sam protests.

 

“And?”

 

“And I’d like to at least pack new clothes,” Sam clarified. “Besides, Jack isn’t packed at all.”

 

Dean rolls his eyes. “Alright, I’ll wait here, just hurry up.”

 

Sam sighs, but can’t help but smile at his brother’s new attitude as he and Jack leave the war room and head for their rooms to pack. Dean just sits down at the table and looks up at Cas, who’s the only one who stayed behind.

 

And that’s good. It’s good. Dean doesn’t know if he could let him out of his sight after- He might feel great about the case in Dodge City momentarily, but he’s more thrilled because they just got Cas back and . . . and he doesn’t want to die anymore. He’ll never forget how it felt to have that enormous empty hole inside him when Cas was . . . when he was _gone_.

 

“Dean?” he hears the angel call his name. He must have blanked out because Cas is already by the table, walking towards him with a worried expression on his face. Dean can’t help but smile, even though Cas looks worried. He’s _there_. He’s _alive._ “Are you alright?”

 

“I am now,” Dean nods at him. When Cas stops in front of his chair, Dean sighs and gives him a sincere smile. “I wasn’t though,” he admits before he stands up, his eyes never leaving Cas’.

 

He hesitates a little before he leans closer and wraps his arms around Cas one more time. Cas seems a little surprised, but he doesn’t say anything and wraps his arms around Dean as well, tightening the hug. “I’m really glad you’re back, Cas,” he mumbles into his shoulder and since they’re alone now, he allows himself to hold on to Cas a little bit longer, and a little bit tighter. Only a few hours ago he was _gone_ after all. And now he’s _back_. Dean closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to make himself say those three big words he knows he has to admit at some point. But all he does is purse his lips and open his eyes again.

 

“I’m glad to be alive too,” Cas pats his back, moving his hand that’s resting on Dean’s hip up to his waist.

 

“I missed you,” Dean says instead and pulls away, quickly brushing away the tears that escaped his eyes. He just hopes that Cas didn’t notice them. Then he glances around them, thankful that Sam and Jack are still gone. “I missed you. A lot.”

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Cas offers and he looks concerned again - he must have seen his tears. Dean knows he’ll talk to him eventually. There are so many things he wants to tell him _, needs_ to tell him, but not now. Not when they’re about to leave for another case. _Together_.

 

So he takes a deep breath and nods at Cas. “Not now though,” he adds.

 

Castiel nods as well and purses his lips. Then he smiles at Dean. “Well, I’m here now.”

 

Dean can’t help but grin at that. “You are. And we’re going to Dodge City. Man, Dodge City is so awesome, you’re gonna love it.” He puts his hand on Cas’ shoulder and smiles.

 

“I’ve never been there before.”

 

“I know,” Dean nods. “Oh, my hat!” he says with another smile and turns away from Cas, walking quickly to his room. Cas follows him.

 

“What hat?”

 

“I can’t believe I almost forgot it here,” Dean says instead, opening the door to his room and going in. Cas follows him inside and just keeps standing there as Dean opens the closet and reaches to the back, under all his flannel shirts. And of course it’s there. His cowboy hat. He never thought he’d use it again, but that day is here and he can’t believe how much he missed wearing it.

 

He puts the hat on his head experimentally and turns to look at Cas, who only raises his eyebrows. “How do I look?” he asks and puts both his hands into his pockets.

 

“Like . . . a cowboy,” Cas squints his eyes at him.

 

“Exactly,” Dean nods with a grin. “And that’s what Dodge City is all about.”

 

Before either of them can say anything else, they hear Sam from the war room, “Dean?”

 

“We’re coming!” he yells and adjusts the hat on his head. Then he winks at Cas like a c _owboy,_ quickly walking away as he realizes what he just did, and prompting Cas to follow him only by lightly touching his elbow.

 

They’re going to Dodge City. _Finally._

 

And he’s getting Cas a cowboy hat, whether he likes it or not.

 

xoXÖXox

 

Dean gladly fills his motel mug with the coffee that Cas prepared for them and sits down on the couch, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stares grumpily in front of himself as he holds the mug. His eyes still aren’t fully open.

 

“I told you,” he hears Cas say to Jack, “he’s an angry sleeper. Like a bear.”

 

A _bear_? Seriously?

 

Dean tries to ignore it as he sips his hot coffee.

 

“Okay, so code three means an officer down,” Sam explains, “looks like the victim was-”

 

“Covered in bite marks,” Jack finishes for him. “Like from a zombie!”

 

“Or anything else that has teeth,” Dean tells him, his voice still rough.

 

“Alright, change of plans,” Sam sighs, ”Jack and I will hit the graveyard, you and Cas hit up the crime scene.” He closes his laptop.

 

“Works for me,” Dean agrees, still sipping his coffee.

 

Sam, Jack, and Cas all stand up, but Dean isn’t ready to go so he doesn’t even move. Instead, he points at his coffee and tries to tell Cas to wait until he finishes, hoping that the angel sees it because he doesn’t even have the energy to look up at him yet.

 

Thankfully, Cas sits back down and only Sam leaves the room with Jack in tow.

 

Maybe he is like a bear. He certainly takes a long time to wake up, and he might be a little bit grumpy, but he knows that Cas doesn’t mind. So they just sit in the room in a companionable silence while Dean sips his coffee.

 

Cas is just watching him.

 

After they finally hear Sam and Jack close the door and leave the room for good, Dean looks up at Cas and realizes that the angel has been watching him the entire time.

 

“What,” he asks and takes another sip.

 

“Nothing,” Cas looks away but glances back at Dean eventually.

 

Dean rolls his eyes. “Spill.”

 

Castiel is silent for a while. Then he sighs and looks at Dean and at his coffee, probably deciding if he should talk about what he wants to talk about. Before Dean can say something again though, Cas sighs and finally says, “you said you wanted to talk.”

 

Now it’s Dean’s turn to be silent.

 

He did tell Cas that he wanted to talk to him later. He said he’d talk when they had the time or were alone and now that they were . . . Well, he should start talking. But damn, he _just_ woke up.

 

“You want to do that now?” Dean asks, avoiding the conversation for as long as he can.

 

“If it doesn’t bother you.”

 

Dean sighs and takes another sip. “Alright,” he closes his eye briefly. And since there’s no good way to start this talk, he just sighs and asks, “well, what do you want to know?”

 

“You said you weren’t alright.”

 

“I wasn’t,” Dean nods.

 

“What happened?”

 

Dean just looks at Cas. Isn’t it obvious? Does it really need saying? “You died,” he says when Cas seems he wants to hear it. “Mom was gone too and all we were left with was Lucifer’s kid . . . Jack.”

 

“What happened to Mary?” Cas asks. They haven’t talked about that yet, not even in the car.

 

“She punched the Devil and got trapped in the apocalypse world with him,” Dean shrugs while he stares at his coffee. Maybe he shouldn’t pretend like he doesn’t care, but right now he’s finally okay and actually happy ever since the night Cas died and if he thinks about mom too much, all of that could disappear. And he doesn’t want to ruin this.

 

“Dean, I’m so sorry,” Cas tells him, “I should have been here, I-”

 

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault,” Dean stops him with another hand gesture. “Thanks for the coffee by the way.”

 

When he doesn’t stand up and just stares at the coffee some more, Cas speaks again. “How are you feeling?” he asks. And Dean can’t think of any other question that he’d rather not answer right now. He _just_ woke up, damn it.

 

But this is Cas. And only a few hours ago, he thought he was dead, but now he’s sitting in front of him, looking at him with those two deep blue eyes of his, new tie and a trench coat and dark tousled hair that are just _asking_ for a cowboy hat.

 

Dean’s eyes drop from Cas’ hair back to his eyes and he smiles. “Now that you’re back? Much better,” he says. “To be honest, I think that after you d- after you _died_ ,” he makes himself say it, looking down briefly, “I think that for me, there was just no point in anything anymore.” He knows that Cas wants to say something, but he doesn’t let him, “I don’t remember the last time I felt that bad, to be honest. And you were almost too late, he adds under his breath.

 

“What do you mean?” Cas squints his eyes at him. Now he looks even more concerned.

 

“I met Billie,” Dean clarifies.

 

“But I-”

 

“Yeah, and she became Death thanks to that. _The_ Death. And I met her.” He really missed the confused face Cas is making. The way he tilts his head, just slightly - way less than he used to, but he still does it, and the way he narrows his eyes and just _looks_ at Dean . . .

 

“I . . . I killed myself,” Dean admits before Cas can say anything. Now that he’s talking, it’s almost hard to stop. Everything is coming out and he knows he needs to say all those things, so he doesn’t even try to stop. He just takes a deep breath. “It was stupid, I thought I could fix it, but the point was that I didn’t even care. And then when I found out I couldn’t fix it, it was too late and Billie found me. I could have stayed dead, but apparently, we’re important.”

 

“You _are_ important, Dean,” Cas finally stands up and walks over to him. Dean waits until Cas is standing right in front of him before he looks up. “You are important to so many people, both you and Sam. You’re important to Jack and to me.”

 

Dean just blinks. “You’re important to me too,” he says. That was _so_ close to the three words he wants to say. “And I don’t want to die anymore. You’re back and . . . Look around, we’re in Dodge City,” he smiles. Then he finishes his coffee in one big gulp.

 

Cas takes the mug away from him without a word and puts in on the table. Dean stands up in the meantime, “thanks,” he smiles.

 

“Dean, I don’t think it’s healthy to become suicidal over a death of a friend,” Cas continues without acknowledging what Dean said. He looks into Dean’s eyes that aren’t tired anymore and looks so concerned that Dean can’t help but roll his eyes.

 

Because Cas still doesn’t get it. He doesn’t fucking get it and it’s all Dean’s fault because he never built up the courage to tell him. Dean Winchester. Ready to fight monsters wherever they are but too afraid to voice his fucking feelings.

 

And it’s not like he doesn’t know how he feels, he’s known for a long time, but Cas doesn’t get it. He still doesn’t get it.

 

So that’s why Dean decides to do something else. “You’re not just a friend, Cas,” he says. And then, without any warning, he walks to the angel and plants a big but brief kiss on his lips. He even closes his eyes, no matter how short it was. But Cas just stares at him, wide eyes, not even blinking. “You’re so much more than a friend,” Dean continues. He’s never been good with words. But then again, Cas isn’t either. And without his first move, they’d be avoiding this moment for who knew how many more years. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t move on, but I just _couldn’t._ It was too much. Losing mom and you _, you_ . . .“ he puts his hand on Cas’ shoulder and squeezes, “it was all just too much, and I couldn’t take it.”

 

“I understand,” Cas looks into his eyes as if searching for something.

 

“Cas, there’s something I should have told you a long time ago. And if not before, what happened with Ishim should have made me say it, but it didn’t and I’m sorry it didn’t. I thought it was too late, but now you’re back and I can . . . We can finally-”

 

He doesn’t get a chance to finish that sentence as Cas brings him close by his t-shirt and kisses him. It’s longer than before, and so warm and firm and yet the gentle moves of lips against lips are making Dean dizzy. He can’t believe it’s actually happening. And in Dodge City!

 

“I love you,” he blurts out when he gasps for breath. He whispers the words again against Cas’ lips, just to be sure Cas hears them, “I love you. That’s what I wanted to say.”

 

“I know,” Cas nods as he captures his lips again. “I love you too.”

 

“You do?” Dean laughs softly, bringing his hands from Cas’ hips to his waist and wrapping them around him. This is the third hug he got in the last twenty-four hours. Yes, he’s a very lucky man.

 

“Of course I do,” Cas nods as he wraps his own arms around Dean tightly. “I always have. It just took me a long time to realize it and even longer to finally say it.”

 

Dean smiles at that. “You and me both,” he says. Then he pulls away and kisses Cas again, only briefly. His eyes brighten up as he smiles at him, “we should probably get going.”

 

“You’re right,” Cas agrees.

 

They start moving after that. Dean goes for his suit and puts it on, Cas washes the mug and tastes the coffee. Before they leave the room, Dean stops him.

 

“Wait,” he says.

 

“What?”

 

“There’s something missing.” Dean looks up at Cas’ hair, who awkwardly touches it and tries to adjust his locks as if expecting Dean to tell him his hair is anything but perfect. Dean just smiles and then looks around the room.

 

And there it is. The perfect hat, just hanging on the wall, asking to be put on Cas’ head. Dean reaches for it and smiles at Cas, who just keeps looking at him absolutely clueless. It’s cute. It’s _really_ cute.

 

“Here,” Dean smiles as he puts the hat on Cas’ head. “Much better.”

 

Cas frowns at him. “No, this is absurd,” he says. “I can’t wear that.”

 

“Of course you can, look,” Dean reaches for his own cowboy hat that he left on the table and puts it on his head, smirking at Castiel. “See? Now they won’t even know we’re not from Dodge City.”

 

Cas tilts his head at him, but he doesn’t squint his eyes. Instead, he looks disbelieving.

 

“Come on,” Dean pleads him. “For me.”

 

Cas rolls his eyes, but there’s a slight smile playing at the corner of his lips. “Alright,” he says.

 

“You’re the best,” Dean grins and leans in to give him another kiss. Cas makes it longer by bringing Dean closer with a hand on his neck, and when they part again, he’s smiling as well.

 

Dean steps away from him a little bit, looking up and down at his new boyfriend and his new look. And okay, yeah, maybe he didn’t think of everything when he decided to give Cas that hat because just _looking_ at him seemed almost impossible without- well, it was hot. It was _really_ hot.

 

“Here we go,” he clears his throat, keeping the proud smile on his face. And as they’re leaving the room, he throws his arm around Cas’ shoulders, muttering, “cowboy of the lord.”

 

“I don’t believe that is a correct term, Dean.”

 

“It is now.”

 

And the door closes behind them, the room now empty. Only soft laughing and talking can be heard from the hall, where a hunter who recently found his hope again and his angel, are walking together, hand in hand, to solve another case.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> (Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English isn't my first language.)


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